Vincent Fontenot

When Vincent Fontenot’s parents moved from Louisiana to Texas following World War II so that Vincent’s father could work in the petro-chemical industry there, they couldn’t have guessed that their future son would turn into one of Acadiana’s greatest boosters and cultural preservationists. While Vincent grew up in Texas with his parents speaking Cajun-French at home, and while he visited Louisiana often as a boy and loved to eat boudin sausage, it wasn’t until he moved to Louisiana at the age of twenty-one that he really delved into his Cajun roots. At one point Vincent simultaneously operated a saloon in Eunice, had a Cajun band, and worked part-time for the National Park Service. Eventually he helped found the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center in Eunice, using many of his own belongings as artifacts to start the museum’s collection. He is now a ranger and educator at the Center, fielding visitors’ questions on every Cajun topic—from the Acadians’ exile from Nova Scotia in 1755, to why so few boudin outlets specialize in blood boudin these days. For the truly boudin-curious, Vincent even has tips on how to turn the sausage into a dip using Velveeta cheese.

Date of interview:

June 19, 2008

Interviewer:

Sara Roahen

Photographer:

Sara Roahen

Boudin here is a very, very important part [of our culture] because we eat it for breakfast. We eat it for lunch. We eat it for supper. It doesn’t matter, you can eat it any time of the day. ~ Vincent Fontenot